Wednesday, October 10, 2012

No law, no life. Know law, know life!

So long as we live, we always abide by the laws. That helps us to remain free men. Otherwise we would have been in the prisons!

Though we live by the norms of law, we happen to live without knowing the provisions of law. Hence, we get into problems without knowing our rights and duties, and live miserable lives instead of happy lives.

How come we have been pushed into this state? The reason is that neither we nor our Government have cared about the legal awareness. The reason is that we started believing in such propaganda as “The laws remain in the dark room. Only the arguments of the advocates throw the light”, propagated by a great Tamil political leader, a pundit in politics, but not in law. In reality the arguments of the advocates not not enlightening, but instead torturing.

Annadurai’s mentor, Periar (Mahatma) EVRamasamy, has said as follows in the weekly Organ of the Davidian Movement, which he founded, “Kudiarasu or People’s Rule” dated 10.05.1931:

“Today’s functioning of the system of advocacy, is diametrically opposed to the morality of mankind, reliabilty, social peace, and the progress of the concerned country. Besides, the advocates are the root cause of the rotting of the nation’s morality, reliablity, and self respect. It is not an exaggeration to say these bitter things.” Pl click here to more details.

Periar EVR’s mentor, Mahatma (Periar in Tamil) Karam Chand Gandhiji (Gandhiar in Tamil), himself London a educated Lawyer, has caustically commented about the profession of advocacy in his first book, the only book of general philosophy as recorded by him in the book itself.

“The Hindu Home Rule” otherwise known as “Indian Swaraj”, published in 1909, his fourtieth year. Mind you, by “Hindu” he did not mean the Hindu religious sect; he meant like all others, for over 20 plus centuries from Greeks onwards, as people living in Hindustan, that is, the united India including the present day Pakistan and Bangaladesh. In the 11th article, his observations about the lawyers of India of his time are as follows:

“The profession of Lawyers teaches immorality. The men take up the profession not in order to help others out of their miseries but to enrich themselves.

“It is within my knowledge that the lawyers are glad when men have disputes.Some families have been ruined by them; they have made brothers enemies. Lawyers are men who have little to do. Lazy people, in order to indulge in luxuries, take up such professions. They put on so much show that poor people almost consider them to be heaven born.

“They (the common people) become more unmanly and cowardly when they resort to courts of law. It is wrong to consider that courts are established for the benefit of the people. If people were to settle their own quarrels, a third party would not be able to exercise any authority over them. The parties alone know who is right. Surely the decision of the third party is not always right.

“It is the lawyers who have discovered that their is an honourable profession. They frame laws as they frame their own priases. They decide what fees they will charge. My firm opinion is that the lawyers have enslaved India and have confirmed the English authority. If pleaders were to abandon their profession and consider it just as degrading as prostitution, English rule break up in a day.

“What I have said with reference to pleaders necessarily applies to the judges; they are the first cousins and the ones to give strength to the others.

“How the pleaders were made in the first instance and how they were favoured, you should understand well. Then you will have the same abhorrence for the profession that I have.

“This a true statement; any other argument is mere pretension.”

Mr.M.K. Gandhi has written much more elaborately about the profession of advocates of India of his time. We have extracted only the most important points.

You should know that way back in 1867 itself, in the Das Kapital, it was held by Karl Marx to the effect that “when evidence is balanced between a haggard looking poor man and a pot bellied rich man, the judge institively favours the later.”

This is true even today, when the rich and the powerful, accused of swindling thousands of crores of rupees from the people’s taxes, get no case against them, and even if cases are registered, get bail in no time, or even in advance, and drag on the cases till their death and avoid jail, whereas the poor like a small pick-pocket spend several years in jail, as an under-trial. There are plenty of such instances in India and in Tamilnadu itself. To quote them will be embarassing and controversial.

While facts are so, what is the altenative?

It is unavoidable to live without courts and laws. But, you need not depend on courts or go to courts, if know to live within the boundaries of law. To know what is necessary to live within boundaries of law, you require the knowledge of the five fundamental laws like the world being made up of the five elements and five senses of nature.

If someone follows the laws, and gets into loss, the “laws”cannot be called so, and instead can be called“loss”. Why do we require the laws that would put us into loss?

In 1999, there was a number of problems in the COMPACT ELECTRIC Ltd., a non pharma industry, owned by the well known Pharmaceutical giant, Dr.Reddies of Andhra Pradesh, in which I happened to work then. Before that I had woked as a welder in “Balmar Lawrie”, manufacturers of freight containers at Chennai. It was a central public sector undertaking with South Korean collaboration.

Once, one of my team mate worker was found not doing his job sincerely, he was taken to the underground section, where his feet were crushed under the boot of the sole South Korean supervisor on behalf of his company. I was fed up and quit it and joined the Compact Electric Ltd.

The second company shamelessly exhibited linguistic, communal bias towards workers. It paid highest to the Hindi speaking workers, next to the Telugus, then the Malayalees, and lastly Tamils.

This action of the company is against The Indian Constitution, and the “Equal Remuneration Act, 1976”, in particular. I felt offended and felt like challenging the practice, and started learning law, after a senior lawyer, a Telugu by descent, first could not believe my statement, but when shown the payment bills, he wanted me to pursue the matter against the unruly management.

The lawyer deputed his junior to handle my matter, but the junior was worse than me in Labour law knowledge. During one of the hearings, the lawyer was absent, and I handled my case myself and presented a petition, raising a legal point.

The Presiding Officer (Labour Judge) asked me whether there was provision in law to present such a demand. I backed up my petition with the relevant labour law from the book that I carried to court, and handed the book to the judge. He read it and accepted my point. Obviously he did not know this law until then.

I want to tell the reader that I consulted a number of legal personalities and consumer activists etc. and each person was giving his own version of law, and none gave the correct legal position.

I felt all the problems arose when laws were broken. But, I knew none of the laws. Hence, I went for reading the law for myself. I had to go through many law books in the libraries. Even then, I was blind asto under which law and from forum to get justice.

I started roaming around from place to place to meet the well informed persons in society to get my doubts cleared. My confusion was confounded and I did not get the required clarification. I found that they were not that informed enough to clarify all my doubts.

I continued my thirst for proper solution. One day, while getting home by train, I incidentally happened to read the book, “You too can plead your case yourself in the court” published authored by one Mr.Senthamil-k-Kizhaar of Aruppu-k-kottai. The tiled implied that you can argue your own case without the assistance of an advocate. It said so in so many words also.

It was then, that I was reminded of having read the same book two years earlier in the Madras Connemara Library. Though I went through it, on both the occasions, I couldn’t fully grasp the philosophy behind it, its full meaning, the aim, and the benefit accruing therefrom, because the book did not specifically instruct on these points.

Whatever it be, I felt thrilled that I had at last found the guru that I wanted to meet. I met him and was disappointed badly when he called my problem unjust and simply refused to guide me in a practical way.

This led me to a new enlightenment.

On the one hand, there were ill informed persons pretending to be well informed, and on the other side, really well informed persons, who sit in judgment over my problems, and refuse to guide. I don’t find fault with this state of affairs. Each takes a stand from his own point of view. That is all!

It drove me to resolve firmly that I would myself master the knowledge, and would guide others, rather than being guided. I am not exaggerating when I say that the result was, my present status. So I request all of you to follow your own way of mastering any subject.

I firmly believe that you require 5 treatises (research books), like the five senses of the human beings, to fully comprehend and self defend / prosecute to attain our rights and to do our duties in legal fora, right from local self govt. officers to the Supreme Court of India.

Out of the five necessary books , all the five are already in print form in my mother tongue, Tamil--all of them published with the financial help of the Central Law Ministry.Click here to books details

Ninety % of the people think that they alone are facing problems. If they take some interest in the common good, they can better face their own problems much more easily, and the general legal awareness would build up. This I have found out of my own experience.

The CARE Society is an example of the build up of good people coming together for a noble purpose of educating the public on legal awareness. They have belied the proverb that only those in distress will know the depth of it. All the members of this society are workers in the private industries and earn thousands a month.

Though they are relatively free from economic sufferings, they have taken upon themselves the duty of educating the general public who need legal awareness help. If all of you, the readers, similarly take a vow to help the society and play your part in the spread of legal awareness, you can do a lot to the society, help the creation of problem free society.

I would proclaim “Be not afraid of the problems.Let the problems flee from you out of fear.” I am a freeman on date, walking even to the law courts, though there are three non-bailable warrants against me, to my knowledge!

The reason for the present deplorable state of affairs in the judicial fora is due to the lack of this awareness. The other reason for acquisition of legal awareness is the quality of the advocacy of third or fourth degree,the best elements getting away to medicine, information technology, and other Engineering and other professional courses, including teaching.

The horrible thing is that many advocates now in courts have got their degrees by several attempts. During my last ten years of study, I find nearly half of the advocates carry criminal cases on their heads! In fact criminals constitute 60 % of the advocacy. They take up law with a view to hide their criminal activities under their black cloaks. They hope to get protection from punishment for their crimes from the black coated cousins on the dais of the court.

The glaring examples are the law college students’ attack against another set of students and the police, and High Court Advocates setting fire to police station of the Madras High Court right in the glaring light in the presence of the cameras seen all over the country and world.

The poor stuff, and criminal elements as pointed above, unable to find any other job, end up as lawyers. The fact is that they get themselves appointed as judicial officers also from the local to the Highest Court of our Mother land.

This state of affairs should change. After all, essentially what is fairness, is law. One need not know law to deliver fair judgement. One needs to be fair, and not necessarily a law educated, to be a fair Judge. This is what human society expects of the judicial system.

Yet we require to regulate admission into law colleges, as they are supposed to understand and guide people as lawyers and deliver judgements according to the law.

How am at Liberty though under Warrant of Arrest?!

When you come to face problems, any of you readers, living in freedom, have any number of sources to help you, say–friends, ministers, advocates, policemen, and even judges. But, those really caught in problems, may be in prisons. Only to suppress people and their agitations, the jails are used, said Karl Marx, 164 years ago.

Gandhi and Marx are lawyers by profession and education, but EVR Periyar was not aware that being in jail with legal awareness, is of great strength to fellow prisoners, ignorant of their legal rights and lacking in legal guidance to enjoy the human rights that they are entitled to. Even the jailors respected me and sought legal advice from me, a mere prisoner.

And the jailors scrutinised my critical letters written from jail and addressed to the Judicial Officers, based on news paper reports, as to how the concerned judicial officer had committed wrongs by his wrong order or judgement.

Besides, they used to read the letters/petitions of co-prisoners, drafted on my advice, and sent to courts. I used to quote the relevant legal provisions to prove my points. The jailors started developing great respect for me, and praised me saying that though the judiciary committed mistakes, they (the jail officials) were not exactly aware of how they were committing mistakes.

But they (prisoners’ welfare officials) found me a bad guy, spoiling the bribes coming to them in drafting the remission praying letters, as the prisoners learnt from me as to how to write for remission, and did not depend on the officials!

The jail officials used to beg me to get out of the jail on bail, so that they could carry on their zulum (jungle rule) in the absence of a guide like me guiding the other prisoners against the jail officials. The undertrials dont draw the sympathy of others, but the convicts, particularly the poor, get the sympathy of the lower jail officials or fellow prisoners, and they used to tell the men to approach me asto what went wrong with the court order, and how to get out on appeal!

The Jail Officials started praying to the Lord Almighty as to how to send me out of the prison early! They were frightened also about the possibility of my writing against the particular misdeeds of the particular named officials, once out of the jail, in the light of the fact that I was directly caustic even against the particular judicial officers in order to help the co-prisoners!

The law knowing person can prove to be more powerful and trouble making inside the prison than when out of it, against the misdeeds of the officialdom! Freedom fighters were frightening to the judges of the British rule, since most of the leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, Tilak, Dadabai Navroji, Vallahb Bhai Patel, Md. Ali Jinnah, Beema Rao Ambedkar etc. etc.

It is these men with legal knowledge, who made history during the freedom fight and find place in history because of their daring confrontation with British officials, then ruling India, and thereby got immensely popular all over India or at least in their home provinces!

Only by spending stupendous money and effort, they went to England to learn the best laws, and once educated they could play big roles in national affairs against the English who taught them laws. Whereas, against the present day misbehaving native masters, you can learn law sitting in court or even in jail, and you require no law degree to practice law even in courts.

Even in free India, ruled by elected natives, with the continuing fundamental laws of Punishment (Indian Penal Code), Procedure (Criminal Producture Code & Civil Producture Code), Law of Evidence (Indian Evidence Act) laws made by the foreigner, and the newly made Indian Constitution embodying all the leading principles of justice all over the world, you do require the law knowledge to guard and protect your fundamental rights. The 5 major Acts quoted in the beginning are recollected in the above sentence.

The above five laws form the base for all other laws.

In our nation, there is none who knows all these 5 major and fundamental laws. There are no Judicial Officers and empowered Govt. Servants from village to Capital City(namely village Munsiff to the Cabinet Secretary of the Central Govt., Delhi, and the Chief Justice of India), who know all these laws simultaneously.

These necessarily apply to me also. But, I can analyse and find fault with their errors or illegal acts, violating fundamendal laws.

For more details, kindly follow the separate article, “Is the President of India a mere Rubber stamp?”.

The advantages of knowing law!

Once you know the law, normally, none will dare to trouble you using legal instruments by foisting false charges, themselves or using the state apparatus. Many without legal knowledge as armour, drop out of social service, when diverted by a foisted charge.

Even if they do, you can explain the consequences and put them out of action, and also defend yourself. You will also know the consequences of transgressing the law, and would refrain from breaking the law. Hence everybody shall know law in the interest of common societal good.

The kith and kin, when in trouble, will stand to benefit from your legal knowledge, and they would be spared both money and mental agony and Loss your life. Your children and the near ones (relatives) will easily pick up the legal knowledge.

The other use will be to convince the guilty of the wisdom of admitting the offence and plead for mercy and lighter sentence or even a pardon or release. One can enlighten the falsely accused person and help him get an acquittal and also compensation from the false accuser and the corrupt official who did not investigate properly and was a party to the crime of false case booking. One can also get them prosecuted for the abuse of the process of law and subversion the courts.

For 15 months’ I had to wage a legal war to arrest me on a pending warrant, which was issued at the first instance not based on facts or law, but on irritation and and a personal vengeance for teaching law to a Judicial Magistrate.

I instigated one of my admirers / readers to write to the said Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Madras City, that Warrant Balaw was living with him, and that a warrant of arrest issued by the Special Metropolitan Magistrate in charge of the Central Railway Court, and that as a law abiding citizen interested in maintaining the dignity of law, he wanted to arrest Warrant me if only he issued a warrant under Sec.73 Cr.P.C.

Once, this was filed, the CMM had the matter enquired unobstusively, and shouted at the Magistrate who had issued the warrant, and Mrs.Makku Mangalam (the said Magistrate, a lady) felt ashamed and asked the railway police to arrest me and produce, comed what may.

I was happy that I was arrested and sent to the Central Prison of Madras, where I spent 87 days and experienced, first hand, the jail life and all that was happening inside. I also took classes for the co-prisoners, as well as learnt a lot from them, about all the atrocities being committed against them by all sections of people-from the prosecuting policemen and other department officials, the advocates-both govt. and private- and their clerks, the judicial officers and clerks and even peons in the court, the escorting policemen, and the jail officials.

I also learnt of the arts used by the actual criminals-such as picket pockets, vendors of narcotic drugs, national and international currency printers etc.!

It was a life time experience for me..!!

Among the inmates in the prison house, at the initial stage, the remand prisoners didn’t respond to my attempt to teach them the nuances of the law, since most of them had lawyers (liars), to care for them from outside.

Whereas the convicted prisoners had to spend their period of conviction with great grief, and when they learnt from me that the advocates had not put up proper defence to get them out as innocents, they were too eager to learn the legal processes.

They used to feel that they could themselves have pleaded the case instead of with the aid of an ill-informed advocate, and could have got an acquittal, or at best could have been happier that they at least avoided the burdensome fees to the advocate, which would have helped the wives and children back at home.

I know many, who argued their own cases to victory and freedom.

After their release, I know some had even prosecuted the officials for malicious prosecution, but in vain. I have recorded the above facts as well as the philosophy behind the work, the need to know law, and the advantage of self pleading one’s own case in the books mentioned above.

A variety of journalists in Thamizh Naadu, with different backgrounds and ideologies, have reviewed these books in Thamizh, and they have come out with their own admiring commentaries. Their reviews had infused a new confidence and enthusiasm in me. By way of expressing my gratitude to them, I have reproduced their words of appreciation in the initial pages of these books.

It is an innovative effort with a difference. I believe that these reviews will help you, the readers, to readily estimate the importance and value of these treatises, the fruit of my ten years’ sustained work.

I do trust that every Indian citizen and media would consider it their social obligation to see that the message of the book reaches the Indian people.

This translation into English commonly known all over India, was done by my friend, Mr.V.S.Karuppannan, a retired Additional Supt. of Police, and a veteran translator, who has already translated many novels and short stories including that of Mr.M.Karunanidhi, the former Chief Minister of Thamizh Naadu.

All those who want to have these books translated into their own mother tongues, inside or outside of India, they are welcome. I don't claim any copy right to these books. I have openly put it out in the book itself.

No need to take my permission or concurrence to reprint even my Thamizh version, or this English version and sell it in the open market. Even the price of the book is upto them to fix.

I expect every reader to fearlessly pass on their comments so that the feedback helps me to enrich the work in future editions.

The Hare may win or the tortoise! Rare is when idleness will win!

No law, no life! Know law, know life!

Therefore I appeal to you to labour hard and learn the laws and understand the life, so that you will be in a position to help yourself as also Mother India.

Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,

Warrant Balaw
Researcher in law
& In the service of Legal Awakening Mission!